1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of communications. More particularly, this invention relates to a system and method for audio delivery of caller identification information to wireless communications devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telecommunications has experienced explosive growth, and more growth is planned as telecommunication access and numerous communications devices improve. This explosive growth is revolutionizing special services offered to subscribing customers. Of the special service offerings, the most relevant to this invention is the caller identification or Caller ID service. A customer or a user of a telephone that is served by the Caller ID service is able to screen incoming calls by knowing what telephone number is calling before the user answers the phone. Presently available Caller ID systems provide a calling party's telephone number and a billing name associated with the calling party's telephone number (if available) when an incoming caller line identification (ICLID) signal can be detected, decoded, and transmitted to the serviced telephone or other display device associated with the serviced telephone. In recent years, telephony providers and manufacturers have tried to achieve vocalized announcement of the calling party's number and/or name to the serviced telephone.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,806 entitled “Apparatus and Method for Spoken Caller Identification Using Signals of the Advanced Intelligent Network,” discloses an apparatus and method for audio presentation of a calling party's name in a cellular environment. When a caller places a call to a cellular phone serviced by Caller ID, the cellular switch triggers identification of the caller by sending the ICLID signal along with the cellular telephone number to a data server located in cellular switching center. The user of the cellular phone can pre-record a list of names associated with phone numbers that are expected to originate calls to the cellular phone and the data server can fetch the caller's prerecorded name if there is a match with the ICLID. If the ICLID does not match any of the expected callers, then the telephone number of the caller can be spoken by the user answering the cellular phone by an Intelligent Peripheral attached to the cellular switch. Alternatively, if an ICLID signal is not detected, the data server can play a pre-recorded message of “unknown caller” or prompt the calling party to state his/her name and play the recorded calling party announcement to the user answering the cellular phone. The 5,796,806 patent, however, has several drawbacks that include necessitating expensive, specialized hardware and equipment in the cellular or mobile switching network, necessitating cooperation from the user to pre-record names and associate those names with telephone numbers of expected callers, and limiting the audio announcement to only the name or the number of the calling party.